7 Years!

Today, Peter and I celebrate 7 years of marriage!  I feel so blessed to be married to such an amazing man!  When we walked down that aisle, we could only slightly grasp what those vows we recited really met for our future.   In reality, walking down the aisle was just a huge leap of faith and love struck with hearts in our eyes! We were clueless but committed to making it work no matter what!

That first year of marriage, I feel like we lived on pure love and adrenaline.  Life was good and every day held something new! Sure there were growing pains as we adjusted and learned more about each other but I really feel like we had a smooth and fun year together!  Peter tolerated my burnt dinners well enough  and we eventually got to the point that we didn't need a pillow to referee the middle of the bed for flying elbows! It was a good year!  

Year number two felt almost like perfection! Peter graduated from college, we traveled a lot, and Peter got his first job out of school!  Life was amazing as we lived up the American Dream!  We had everything going for us and it is pretty easy to love each other when everything is going perfect!  

Year number 3 was our first hard year of marriage.  Peter got laid off because of the very poor economy,my grandma passed away, and we couldn't get pregnant. Lots of high stress situations wanting to pull us apart. We faced our first challenges as a couple and fortunately grew closer together through it all!  Peter really came out as the leader of our family in that hard year.  

Year number 4 will always be remembered as the year of waiting.  We started the adoption process and waited much longer than we would have liked to see our first child.   I am not one to be described as a graceful waiter, so Peter had his hands full for sure! Our waiting finally paid off and we were abundantly blessed not only with getting to see Malachi's face for the very first time, but lo and behold there there were 2 lines on the little pink stick!

 Year #5 was yet another highlight year for our marriage!  We got to go pick up Malachi soon after our anniversary and began a new and exciting journey into parenthood!  Holding Malachi in my arms for the first time was everything I dreamed it would be!  We were parents! Just when we thought we had it figured out, Eli joined the scene!  That year was another year full of adjusting into our new roles as mom and dad.  That definitely evolved our marriage into something new!

We started year #6 learning the news that we would be parents yet again!  While we were thrilled, this stuck us into some serious survival mode as parents. Just when we thought we had adjusted to 2 babies I was yet again sick with morning sickness and then a huge change as I went on bedrest.  And the natural thing that takes place after bedrest is the birth of a baby.  We now had 3 babies under 24 months!  There just weren't enough hours in a day at this point and the very last thing on our minds during these days was our marriage While I still wouldn't consider things "bad", a garden left unattended to starts to grow some weeds.

So as we embarked on our 7th year of marriage, we had a serious heart to heart and wanted to really focus on making our good marriage a great marriage. We didn't want to settle for mediocre when we could have extraordinary. We have spent a lot of time this year talking through expectations and desires and putting in that extra effort with one another. . We have worked hard at shifting the attention off of the kids (which is hard to do) and have put the attention back in to our marriage.  It was a bit difficult at times and there have definitely been ups and downs in the process, but we're stronger and happier than we have ever been before!  We're communicating better and spending real quality time together.  We're stronger and happier than we have ever been before!  

So here we go, reflecting on what has been a very good year of growth in our marriage and looking forward to another year. We have no idea what this next year holds for us, but I do know that no matter what comes, we are in this thing together!  I feel like we have been blessed with a marriage that some never get to have!  Being married has been easy and natural for us!  I don't take that for granted.  I am fortunate to be married to a man who is deeply committed and quick to forgive!  So, here's to another blessed year with my best friend and love of my life by my side!